Points of Interest and Reflections

辣白菜味辣条

The Decoupling of Information and Action
In Chapter Five, Boltzman proposed that the invention of the telegraph completely changed the "information-action ratio". In the era of printing, information was closely related to action - people acquired knowledge through reading and used it to guide their practices (such as political participation and social decision-making). The emergence of the telegraph detached information from the context and turned it into commercialized "news", whose value no longer depended on practical utility but on entertainment and novelty. People are submerged in a vast amount of irrelevant information but are unable to translate it into concrete actions, eventually leading to the degradation of their ability to participate in society and politics.
Reflection: This kind of phenomenon in today's age of the Internet more obvious. For instance, social media and short-video platforms push a vast amount of information every day, but users often only consume passively and rarely make actual changes due to the information. For instance, people might like a piece of environmental protection news but won't adjust their living habits as a result. This paradox of "information overload" and "lack of action" exposes the sense of powerlessness of modern people when facing complex issues.